For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston
- September 15, 2009
- From Beginning
- Previous feature
- Show Calendar
- Next feature
- Current

Register for a FREE GoComics account and get this plus any other comic strip delivered to your Personalized Comic Page, Daily. With a free account you will be able to build a Comic Page filled with the Comics you want to see each day.
With the largest collection of Comics and Editorial Cartoons online there is plenty to choose from. Upgrade to a Comic Genius account (Only $.99/Month) and have unlimited archive access to decades of comics.
Register for a FREE GoComics account and get this or any other comic strip daily emailed daily. Comics and Editorial Cartoons are updated everyday so there is always something new.
With a free account you will receive one comic from your Personalized Comic Page daily. Upgrade to a Comic Genius account (Only $.99/Month) and get all of your comics emailed daily plus receive unlimited archive access to decades of comics.
Since its debut in 1979, For Better or For Worse has touched comic strip readers as few cartoons ever do. Cartoonist Lynn Johnston’s eye for detail and her uncanny sense of what real parents and children struggle with daily are a big part of her success. The world has watched the Patterson family grow up in real time, and to many readers, the Pattersons feel like family!
Parents and children alike will relate to the obstacles that the Patterson family faces. Curfews, parent date nights, babysitting, pets and distractions are all hurdles that the Pattersons must overcome in order to enjoy each other as a family. They face the same obstacles that real life families do, which is what makes them so loveable.
© 2009 Universal Press Syndicate - All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2009. UCLICK LLC, All rights reserved. Terms & Conditions - Privacy Policy


Comments (41) Jump to Comments Form
mroberts88 said, 2 months ago
This can only end horribly for both parties involved. You NEVER have a family member, especially a spouse, go to work with you. Especially when they will fill in as a secretary.
OpenWings said, 2 months ago
Sometimes it can work, as long as both parties are willing to compromise.
Elly just seems glad of anything different at the moment. But typical of John to not realise WHY she’s so happy about it. Duh!
baslim_the_begger
said,
2 months ago
He knows why she’s happy, he is just not sure about the consequences,,,
Lewreader
said,
2 months ago
Oooh SHUDDER! The terror! This page is not long enough to list my fears.
hildigunnur
said,
2 months ago
Flight Suit, whee, maybe people are learning how to handle trolling ;)
TrapperJohn said, 2 months ago
Didn’t work for the Petrie’s OR the Hartley’s, so probably won’t work here, either.
lightenup said, 2 months ago
Hugs for you, Flight Suit. :-)
Burgundy said, 2 months ago
Oh, oh, a husband and wife working in the same office, that’s always a recipe for disaster, that’s one of the major factors that drowned the last company I worked for. And you’ll notice that the wife is always related to the owners.
Avolunteer said, 2 months ago
Its not permanent; just a week of “vacation” for Ellie. She’s bored, this is a change! Have to wonder if Jean suggested it :)
Macushlalondra
said,
2 months ago
Oh no this is certainly not going to work. He will be bossy because he’s the boss and she will get fed up.
My husband used to manage a pizza parlour and I thought he was probably a good manager and easy to work for since he’s pretty easy for me to get along with at home. But a couple weeks ago he was heading up a barbeque at our church. He asked for someone to open the hamburger and hot dog buns so they’d be ready when the meat was done. I said I’d do it and started to but then he started getting all in a tizzy about making sure the burgers didn’t end up with two tops or two bottoms. I had to walk away before I said something nasty to him.
summerdog said, 2 months ago
We will see if Elly still feels like hugging him at the end of their working together week. I vote no.
cleokaya
said,
2 months ago
Flight Suit - Well, you’re certainly entitled to your opinion.
jerzy said, 2 months ago
I know of a number of doctors who work side by side with their wives in the same office, & it’s fine. In some cases the wives are also doctors, in others they are nurses or secretaries.
Of course, this is a comic strip, & it won’t be funny if things go well. :)
MisngNOLA
said,
2 months ago
My cousin has worked with her husband who is a dentist for about 20 years now. They’re still married, and they still work together.
Nelly55 said, 2 months ago
I remember how this pans out…………
I’ll keep it to myself ;)
kab2rb said, 2 months ago
Yes I remember this strip too. John wishes over and over by his expression he had not done this.
When FBOW first started the author did a great job in my own opinion of covering up as the cuppel (sp) marriage has endurded over the years.
I have seen family own business thrive. One medical practice or I should say Chriopractor the children took medical in the same practice as the dad. Except the daugther and mother. But all work at the same place.
The dad is still in charge.
Susan001 said, 2 months ago
Check out Adam@Home for a story line about spouses working together. There, the husband is supposed to be stacking books in his wife’s store, but he’s actually chatting up a goth customer.
BTW, why isn’t John helping with the dishes?
bald 716 said, 2 months ago
i’ve known a few couples who worked in the same place and the only way they got along was to be on separate shifts so they rarely saw each other
jumbobrain
said,
2 months ago
This is a good comic strip, and it’s nice to see the old ones again…but I wish my local paper would drop it, and Peanuts, for something new.
helwen said, 2 months ago
Sometimes couples can work together and sometimes they can’t. We’ll see what happens with these two.
My husband and I work very well together, and it doesn’t matter who’s the boss for a given project. The whole family used to run a restaurant, for over 40 years without major problems, just the occasional quibble now and then. Folks got tired so the restaurant was closed, but we still work together for haying, sugaring season, and whatever else needs doing around the farm.
JanCinVV
said,
2 months ago
My Doctor and her husband own a practice together. She’s a GP and he’s a cardiologist. They seem to be doing just fine.
Coffee-Turtle
said,
2 months ago
remember when you were dating and you couldn’t bare to be one minute apart? well, this is the best thing then!
Wildmustang1262 said, 2 months ago
Elly can become a substitute worker at her husband’s dentist office if she wants to be or not.
Burgundy2 said, 2 months ago
I worked with my husband for 18 years in the same office. It was a job I loved and our marriage has remained solid.
mroberts88 said, 2 months ago
Burgundy2, if done right, it can work, but if done wrong (John acts like Elly is the full time secretary, and not his part time secretary and wife) it will fail.
Burgundy said, 2 months ago
Burgundy2, I couldn’t help but noticed you wrote “worked”
Doctor Toon
said,
2 months ago
My first job was working for my dad starting at 13 until I was 23. Spent the next 10 years working for another family in their family business. I can say this much, my family got along working together a lot better.
Julicans said, 2 months ago
I love being my BF’s sexretary! Chase me around the desk, catch me and kiss me!! Yummmmmm………
fritzoid said, 2 months ago
You can’t tie down a Banjo Man.
mroberts88 said, 2 months ago
fritzoid, what does that even mean?
Flight Suit
said,
2 months ago
Thank you Hildi and Lightenup!
Very funny, Cleokaya!
Now then:
For those that are wondering what the above people were responding to, it was a post from me, conceding defeat and complimenting all of you for being wise enough not to take my troll-bait.
My question now is, why on Earth would anybody have flagged that post for removal? You folks have demonstrated that you’re not going to be brought down to the level of somebody trying to antagonize you, and that was the least offensive thing I’ve ever posted here.
Ah, well.
bluetopazcrystal said, 2 months ago
I seem to remember Elly telling someone, ( when she was older ), that working for John was difficult. She didn’t enjoy having her husband as her boss.
mroberts88 said, 2 months ago
Flight Suit, I dont even respond to trolls. That stuff happens, just odnt do it again, and it shouldnt happen.
Flight Suit
said,
2 months ago
Don’t do what again? Trolling? ‘Cause the deleted post in question was the exact opposite of trolling. I am the first troll in history to admit that my intended victims vanquished me simply by taking the high road. That’s all I said, really, and the post disappeared.
Hmmm…
Maybe somebody was upset ‘cause I said you were all Canadian at heart?
Wolfdreamer250 said, 2 months ago
I remember this week of Elly working with John. By the end, both are going to wish they had never thought of it. Bwahhhahahah.
CheekyWeeMonkeys said, 2 months ago
Don’t do it Elly! It’s a trap, I tell you. A traaaaaaap
mroberts88 said, 2 months ago
Yeah flight, trolling. How am I Canadian at heart?
Flight Suit
said,
2 months ago
Not you specifically, but you as in all of you here who follow this strip. My point had been that your collective approach of polite pacifism had defeated my attempts at trolling.
I concluded, therefore, that although some of you were not Canadians by birth, you were all Canadian at heart.
Which, of course, was a compliment, ‘cause Canadians tend to not go berserk and resort to combat as their first option the way we Yanks do.
hildigunnur
said,
2 months ago
I wouldn’t mind being Canadian :) And can’t understand who flagged this and even less why the moderators listened to the flagging…
fritzoid said, 2 months ago
mroberts, it means he’s a Banjo Man! You can’t tie down a Banjo Man!
(click on my avatar, or check out “Cul De Sac” for 9/15/09)
Flight Suit
said,
2 months ago
Hey, how do you make a banjo player slow down?
Put sheet music in front of him!
How do you make a Banjo player stop?
Put notes on it!
I got those from Garrison Keillor.